How do the chemicals in sunscreen protect our skin from damage?
Energy from the sun's rays can cause skin damage and cancers. Sunscreens can absorb or reflect the dangerous UV light. Here's how it works.
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Articles on Sunscreen
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The cost of skin cancer: South Africa is spending more than it should
Skin cancer – which is preventable – costs the South African health system more than is necessary.
Why bacteria could be the answer to a future without oil
Chemicals are all around us. They are crucial in all manner of industries, from agriculture to food to cosmetics. Most people give little thought to how these chemicals are made – and certainly very few…
Sunscreened beachgoers could be poisoning marine life
Sunscreen chemicals wash into the sea and have toxic effects on marine life. American Chemical Society researchers found…
A third of sunscreens could have overestimated SPF protection – it’s a scandal
Despite the many awareness-raising campaigns on the harmful effects of ultraviolet (UV) radiation, a walk along any tourist beach will tell you just how many sun worshippers continue to soak up the sun…
Who has the time? Four hours of Norte, the End of History, at MIFF
For an expectant crowd of cinephiles sitting down to see a four-hour film, it is easy enough to identify with Fabian, the main character of Norte, the End of History, that screened at the Melbourne International…
Fear the key incentive to slip, slop, slap
Fear of developing skin cancer is one of the stronger motives for people to use sunscreen, according to new US research…
Vitamin D needed to fight comeback of childhood rickets
For most people, our standard diet provides all the necessary vitamins we need. However, childhood vitamin D deficiency in the UK – something that should be a headline from the distant past – has made…
Daily sunscreen use puts a brake on skin ageing
If fear of skin cancer was not enough, here’s another reason to slip, slop, slap: daily sunscreen use can dramatically slow…
Sunscreen, skin cancer and the Australian summer
With the long, hot Australian summer comes the imperative to manage the country’s enormous skin cancer risk. Along with the growing raw numbers (11,545 skin cancer cases diagnosed in 2009) and rates of…
Time to dispel the fear of nanoparticles in sunscreens
The sunny season has well and truly started, as has the daily summer ritual of applying sunscreen. So now is the perfect time to consider whether “nano sunscreens”, which contain UV filtering nanoparticles…
Monday’s medical myth: we’re not getting enough sun
Myths abound about UV radiation and its effect on our health. We hear that sun-protection has triggered an epidemic of vitamin D deficiency; being tanned protects you from sunburn; a tan looks healthy…
Keep slapping it on: fears over sunscreen nanoparticles unfounded
Human skin can tolerate the tiny metal oxide nanoparticles found in some sunscreens just as well as larger and organic alternatives…
Explainer: Nanotechnology and you
For the public, the jury is still out on nanotechnology – the media simultaneously extols its promise and warns of the potential calamity facing humanity. But what is it? How does it work? Is it dangerous…
Top contributors
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Director, Sansom Institute for Health Research; Chair of Translational Cancer Research, University of South Australia
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Associate Professor of Immunotoxicology; Co-ordinator of Nanosafe Australia and Asia Nano Safe research networks, RMIT University
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Associate Professor in the School of Physics, University of Sydney
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Professor of Dermatology, University of Melbourne
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Adjunct Professor, School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Curtin University; Education and Research Director, Cancer Council WA; Chair, Occupational and Environmental Cancer Committee, Cancer Council Australia
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Professor of Biochemistry, University of Aberdeen
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PhD Candidate, University of Melbourne
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Maître de conférences en pharmacie industrielle et cosmétologie, Université de Nantes
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Professeur en galénique et cosmétologie, Université de Nantes
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Director of the Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology, Newcastle University
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Specialist Scientist (Public Health), South African Medical Research Council
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Griffith University
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Research Chemist, University of California, Riverside
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